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The Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) is pleased to note that projects insured by the agency have won five "Deal of the Year" awards from prominent industry publications.

The awardees are for the Istanbul metro (awarded by Trade Finance), a Tunisian passenger ferry (Trade Finance and Global Trade Review), an Islamic-finance supported Indonesian telecoms project (Euromoney), and an innovative power project in Rwanda.

As of December 2012, Istanbul will have its first underground metro system on the Asian side of the city, connecting it to the network on the European side. This would not be possible without the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) and the collection of European banks which provided a €242.7 million ($321 million) to the IstanbulMetropolitan Municipality without the guarantee of the central government.

When the Tunisian people ousted President Ben Ali in mid January 2011, it was seen by the rest of the world as a great victory for democracy. But the political furore put strain on all foreign investment and halted some strategic trade transactions. This was the case for Compagnie Tunisienne De Navigation (Cotunav) which had secured financing commitments from French banks for the purchase of a Korean-built ferry, but was forced to wait on guarantees from multilateral MIGA until the political situation stabilised. Luckily, Cotunav did not have to wait long. After the government reshuffle, MIGA was the first multilateral to open cover on Tunisia bringing the crucial transport deal to a close in mid-July.

Global Trade Review also mentioned MIGA’s important role in the passenger ferry transaction as well as its robust support to the Tunisian government:

MIGA had confirmed its strong support to Tunisia after the revolution by implementing a number of medium and long-term financings. The group had also worked with the transitional authorities and then the newly-elected government to determine future strategic directions.

Axis, now known as PT Axis Telekom Indonesia, was awarded Euromoney’s Deal of the Year for Islamic Finance, underlining MIGA’s ability to support projects that are compliant with Islamic finance:

The first tranche of the deal was a $450 million Saudi riyal and US dollar dual-currency murabaha facility. The Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency, a part of the World Bank dedicated to promoting foreign direct investment, gave the tranche a guarantee against Indonesian political risk. This was the first Islamic trade in Indonesia, and the first telecoms trade in Asia, to benefit from such a guarantee…

The MIGA-supported KivuWatt project in Rwanda was also recently awarded the Africa Power Deal of the Year by Project Finance magazine.

MIGA’s Executive Vice President Izumi Kobayashi said of the awards, "We’re thrilled. These projects were all considered very important to the agency and demonstrate our innovation, responsiveness, and flexibility. I applaud MIGA colleagues who worked on these deals, and our clients who brought them to fruition," she added.